Building my first NAS

[jhogan93]

hey guys i pretty much have everything i need but im having a hard time finding a guide for 2.5gb network cards and how to set up trueNAS/ whatever is good to use. help?

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

What hardware are you using for your nas?

 

Id probably go 10gbe, normally much better support in the BSDs, and not much more expensvive. 

 

 

[jhogan93]

3 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

What hardware are you using for your nas?

 

Id probably go 10gbe, normally much better support in the BSDs, and not much more expensvive. 

 

 

im using an old gaming pc, if i remember correctly its has a i5 4760 with 24gbs of ddr3 ram. i havent bought the drives yet, im hoping to get eight 8tb drives but i might settle for as low as 4tb.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, jhogan93 said:

im using an old gaming pc, if i remember correctly its has a i5 4760 with 24gbs of ddr3 ram. i havent bought the drives yet, im hoping to get eight 8tb drives but i might settle for as low as 4tb.

Yea Id aim for fewer bigger hdds, then you can more easily expand later on. 

 

HOw about unraid, its much easier to expand later on, and can be used with unmatched drive sizes.

[jhogan93]

6 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Yea Id aim for fewer bigger hdds, then you can more easily expand later on. 

 

HOw about unraid, its much easier to expand later on, and can be used with unmatched drive sizes.

well the case i have has 8 hdd slots, im hoping to get eight 8tb drives for as much bulk storage, (i also have two 240gb ssd's for cache), and if i need to upgrade down the road ill just take what i learned and build a new NAS and have this one for remote back-ups for family

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, jhogan93 said:

well the case i have has 8 hdd slots, im hoping to get eight 8tb drives for as much bulk storage, (i also have two 240gb ssd's for cache), and if i need to upgrade down the road ill just take what i learned and build a new NAS and have this one for remote back-ups for family

How about somethign like this instead https://www.bestbuy.com/site/wd-easystore-14tb-external-usb-3-0-hard-drive-black/6425303.p?skuId=6425303

Much cheaper per tb, and then you can start with 3 hdds and add more as needed later. 

 

Id probably forget the ssdds for cache, they will likely not make a benfit performance wise, esp if used for backup.

[jhogan93]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

How about somethign like this instead https://www.bestbuy.com/site/wd-easystore-14tb-external-usb-3-0-hard-drive-black/6425303.p?skuId=6425303

Much cheaper per tb, and then you can start with 3 hdds and add more as needed later. 

 

Id probably forget the ssdds for cache, they will likely not make a benfit performance wise, esp if used for backup.

well im planning on editing off of this machine. and i already have two 8tb external drives and trying to make them a network share is a huge pain in the ass. and yes to make sure everyone at home is up to speed

 

i want to

 

edit off the nas (not strictly needed but will help)

 

have a plex server (or something that can allow me to watch movies, anime, etc on all devices on my network)

 

and be able to give access to my brother (he lives 800 miles away) so he can have a off-site back up (he does freelance video editing)

[Electronics Wizardy]

3 minutes ago, jhogan93 said:

 

edit off the nas (not strictly needed but will help)

Id really suggest editing off a local ssd, then copying finished projects to the nas, will be much faster than using a hdd array.

 

But yea you can edit it form it if you want. SSDS won't help you here for editing though, esp for freenas.

 

Id go 10gbe, and skip 2.5gbe, not much more expensive, and much faster.

[jhogan93]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Id really suggest editing off a local ssd, then copying finished projects to the nas, will be much faster than using a hdd array.

 

But yea you can edit it form it if you want. SSDS won't help you here for editing though, esp for freenas.

 

Id go 10gbe, and skip 2.5gbe, not much more expensive, and much faster.

any recommendations? and a 10gbe network switch?

[RONOTHAN##]

If you're gonna use TrueNAS core, definitely just go 10Gb. To my knowledge there aren't any network cards capable of 2.5Gb that work on FreeBSD, and the network switches are more expensive than they should be for 2.5 Gb. If you want to go 2.5Gb, you'd want to go for something Debian based rather than FreeBSD based, meaning your options are UnRAID, ProxMox, TrueNAS Scale (in beta), and Ubuntu server. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, jhogan93 said:

any recommendations? and a 10gbe network switch?

Do you need a switch? Id just go 10gbe to your workstation directly. 

 

HOw long of a cable do you need? 

 

Probably just get something like a intel x520 or mellanox connect x3

[jhogan93]

2 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

If you're gonna use TrueNAS core, definitely just go 10Gb. To my knowledge there aren't any network cards capable of 2.5Gb that work on FreeBSD, and the network switches are more expensive than they should be for 2.5 Gb. If you want to go 2.5Gb, you'd want to go for something Debian based rather than FreeBSD based, meaning your options are UnRAID, ProxMox, TrueNAS Scale (in beta), and Ubuntu server. 

any recommendations? and a 10gbe network switch?

[jhogan93]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Do you need a switch? Id just go 10gbe to your workstation directly. 

 

HOw long of a cable do you need? 

 

Probably just get something like a intel x520 or mellanox connect x3

i dont need a switch? i can go straight from NAS to Pc?

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, jhogan93 said:

i dont need a switch? i can go straight from NAS to Pc?

Yup you can just do a direct cable between the two. How far away will the systems be?

[jhogan93]

like 6 inches lol

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, jhogan93 said:

like 6 inches lol

Then just get some sfp+ 10gbe nics and do a direct attached copper cable and you got a 10gbe link.

[jhogan93]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Then just get some sfp+ 10gbe nics and do a direct attached copper cable and you got a 10gbe link.